


Nothing, Nothing.

by Homoko, Kyzer



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Guns, It's not really sad, Violence, WTFuture, if you're one of those people who get twisted over Edgy Eddsworld you might wanna turn away, just edgy, just needed to clear up the backstory, kinda???, lots of yelling, weirdly placed humour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2018-12-20 02:36:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11911431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Homoko/pseuds/Homoko, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyzer/pseuds/Kyzer
Summary: How Edd lost everything.





	Nothing, Nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> this is for the blog ew-future-au.tumblr.com I wanted to clear up the backstory, and since I get antsy with missing details, I decided to just go "fuck it, I'll write it out." so here it is LMAO.
> 
> The plot was suggested by Kale (or Mod Tord as you know him on the blog). Beta reading was done by (some of?) the mod team so thank you for that!!

Slowly, Edd lost everything he held dear to him.

 

He lost his house, jam packed with priceless memories and broken but valuable Earthly assets. The house had been destroyed countless of times already, rebuilt to its wonky original state again and again, but somehow... Somehow this time was different. Perhaps it was because this time the perpetrator was one of the people he could trust his entire life to. Perhaps it was because even after the house was rebuilt, Edd could never step foot in it without reliving that day. Memories of the twisting pain in his gut as words of betrayal struck through him, the searing heat as all of his prized possessions were burnt to the ground, the fear when he saw blue amongst ash and rubble, the grief he felt when Eduardo shed tears for his friend in his arms, would just assault him from every angle all at once and if he had to stay another second in that condition he was going to flip.

At the same time he lost one of his friends, he lost his neighbours too.

So they moved out, to escape. And it was fine for a good while.

Until a bunch of people slammed through his apartment door, yelling something about "cola" and "infecting people," and "zombie apocalypse." Honestly, Edd wasn't listening. Those bastards had knocked the can of cola straight out of his hand, and they would've been luckier just being gnawed on by the horde of growling, slobbering zombies outside of his home.

 

_Oh._

 

"Edd, we gotta go!" Tom's voice rang out from the house beside him, and Edd stepped over the uniform-clad men to get his weapons before rushing out. Another zombie apocalypse. Not an issue, it was like, what, their seventh apocalypse in his lifetime? And he wasn't even thirty yet.

 

But it was different too this time.

 

It was going on for a lot longer than what he was used to, and the three were forced to huddle into an abandoned warehouse just to survive. It was alright, though. They were living together again, and it was tiring and Tom thought it was a nuisance but overall things were doing good. It was like old times again. It was as if he'd lost nothing at all, and even under grime and dirt, they could still laugh about it and poke fun at each other. They were always this good at moving on from things.

 

Then Edd lost his cola. His trademark, his addiction. He revolved his choices around whether or not he was going to get cola by the end of the day, and apparently it had gone ahead and been completely outlawed all across the globe. Anything that even came close to cola was eradicated, and Edd was starting to suffer with withdrawal symptoms. Or at least that's what he thought of it. There was really no other explanation, as he didn't feel much else different as opposed to what they say about cola and its effects on the radio. Tom said it was because Edd had radioactive energy in him still, so maybe it might've resisted whatever that was attacking anyone else. Matt said he was hungry. Either way, Edd lost the spark he needed to keep going. His energy plummeted and without him keeping up the group's optimism, the stress was put on Matt. And no one really listened to him that well.

 

Then Edd lost Tom. It was gradual, first all he really did was rub at his eyes insistently. Then he started getting massive headaches and not even Edd's internal monologue about missing cola could drown out his sounds of agony at night anymore. Something was clearly wrong with his eyes--eyes that Edd was never sure were there in the first place--and Edd had no fucking clue what to do about it. The zombie apocalypse wasn't letting off at all, so they had no hope of taking him to a hospital. Apparently an entire army had been doing good at keeping it under control so far, but in return they seized the land they salvaged. From the name, Edd could already guess who it was. Regardless of who it was, though, they sure as Hell were slow to clear out where Edd, Matt and Tom were.

 

Then Edd lost his reasoning. After months of hideout, and Tom's condition getting worse, Edd had had enough about it. He was getting demented just stewing in the area and he _needed_ to go out and do something. For himself or for Tom, he didn't give a shit. He needed to do something. Last time he heard the now-broken radio, the army was nearing his area, but Edd should have known better than to rely on outside forces to help him get through something. Despite everything, there was really no reason to treat the situation any different from usual, with reckless abandon. So he went out. And much akin to Edd nature, he fucked up. After just about annihilating every single zombie on sight, he had to go ahead and get distracted by an empty cola can. Desperation got the better of him and he grabbed it, but it was holding up an inconveniently placed tower of wine glasses. Needless to say, the resounding crash resulted in every single being with semi-decent hearing to go for a mad dash for fresh meat.

 

He automatically ran back to their hideout, but remembered the condition Tom was in. They couldn't fend off the hoard with one of their men like that! Going anywhere closer to the warehouse was going to endanger everyone. So he went straight to it. _Score!_ While the zombies were busy chewing on his poor malnourished friends maybe Edd could escape. It was a flawless plan. But before he even managed to get to the warehouse, sounds of rapid gunshot could be heard behind him. He turned around to see body after body drop onto the floor heavily, tripping the other zombies behind them. Edd slowed down his pace when he realised the number of zombies were decreasing drastically and there was no way they were getting to him. It was probably the soldiers that were clearing the area. Took their damn time.

 

The number of things chasing Edd reduced from 50 to 20, to 10 and then finally 2 within just two minutes. The two figures emerged from the fog and smoke, revealing rich blue and red uniforms. Theirs were slightly altered, but they were definitely from the same army. Higher ups then, he presumed. He recognised the one with the Eyebrows™, they went to kindergarten together.

They just nodded towards his direction, and Edd responded with a raise of an eyebrow. Behind them a smaller figure appeared. He knew who it was before the eye patch and grotesque scars entered his vision. Tord was alive and Edd wasn't really surprised about it. He didn't change his expression, just moved slightly to direct it towards Tord instead.

 

"Edward. Quite a spectacle you made of yourself," spoke the man. He was shorter than Edd sure, but he had his head tilted up as if he was looking down on Edd. Probably an intimidation tactic. It would've worked if Edd had no idea Tord liked to eat glue when he was a kid.

 

"I had it under control."

 

"Did you, now? It seemed like you were about to use your friends as bait."

 

"I wouldn't have needed to do that if you guys did your job sooner."

 

"Must you be so-" Tord started, but thought better of himself, shutting his eye and breathed out slowly through his nose. Once his eye reopened, he seemed determined. "I'm here for something."

 

"Like you always are."

 

Tord ignored that and continued, "Tom and Matt."

 

"No."

 

"You were about to feed them to a horde of zombies just now."

 

"They'd never come with you."

 

"I heard Tom's in bad shape," at that, Edd twitched. It was minuscule, almost invisible, but Tord's good eye revealed that he caught it. Edd narrowed his own eyes, but opted not to say anything. "I can help him."

 

At the word 'help,' Edd let out a bitter laugh, mocking. Tord seemed unfazed. "He'll get over it."

 

"Edd, can you please get your head out of your ass for two seconds and realise how different the situation is now?!" Tord was finally starting to lose his composure, and Edd took a step forward, completely ready to start an actual fight before he was staring dead into two barrels of two different guns. His eyes swerved from the people at the other end before glaring back at Tord. The man in question said nothing, so Edd simply stewed in silence, thinking it over, remembering how much pain Tom was in. Tord, and his two little lackeys were clean and they looked well-fed. They were obviously living in luxury compared to everyone else in this God forsaken land. He cast his eyes downwards, knowing the best thing for his two friends were for them to be handed over to Tord. Still...

 

"What's the catch?" His eyes snapped back to where Tord was standing.

 

"You."

 

_"Me?"_

 

"You can't come along."

 

"Why the hell not?"

 

"You really think I trust you enough to be let in my territory? You've always acted according to what you wanted, no matter at what cost. As long as it didn't directly affected you, you'd disregard the laws of physics themselves just so you can get what you want. At _best_ you're a liability," Edd grit his teeth, grinding them together at his words. "At worst, you'll bring my whole army down, along with the world it's going to conquer."

 

"What makes you think, that after all that shit you said about me, I won't just take Tom and Matt away and bring them somewhere else?"

 

"Because you're a paradox," Tord explained without really explaining anything. Edd shot him an unamused look before the caramel-haired leader continued. "You were about to throw your friends into the hounds just moments before, but that was because you considered them dead men walking. There was no hope for them, so the very least you could do was save yourself. Tom was suffering something you don't know about, and Matt's too busy being Matt to realise he's malnourished to Hell. But now you know there's hope. You know I can help them, and suddenly they're alive again. You want to keep them."

 

Edd brushed off the analysation of his character to ask, "And why don't you just kill me now? What's stopping you?"

 

He noticed Tord moving his vision past him, purposely making it obvious that he was looking at their warehouse. That answered enough, but Tord continued, "I don't like doing unnecessary things, Eddboy," he answered as his eyes went back to Edd. "I know you'll comply. You're not an idiot because you know it's a win-win situation for you. You get to live, and I get to fix up your little friends. Maybe when you feel like it you'd like them back, and you'll go against me to snatch them out of my grip. But you're stupid to think you stand a chance, so I'm not worried about you as a threat in the future."

 

Edd stopped weighing his options over. It was obvious Matt and especially Tom needed the army's assistance. For whatever reason, there was no shroud of doubt inside him that Tord was going to be true to his word and would provide for them as well as he promised. Probably to use them in his army, but then Tom would stop hurting, and Matt would stop dying this slow death. "What do _I_ do then?"

 

"Whatever you please," Tord answered nonchalantly. "But stay out of my territory. You're not a threat yet but Lord knows what you might do. I don't like you tempering with my things."

 

"The controlled areas are yours, I presume?" Tord nodded. The guns finally lowered at his command.

 

"Would you like to say your farewells?"

 

Edd looked up from his overgrown bangs, boring holes into Red Leader, "Hilarious. Just take them and go."

 

Red Leader smiled at him, almost serenely, as if his attitude was familiar and expected. But it didn't reach his dull, grey eye. At that, the two soldiers moved into the warehouse to gather their newly acquired weapons.

 

"Feel free to have this area, it's desolate and useless to me," Red Leader offered with a lazy flick of his wrist before turning around. Edd made a mental note to leave this area simply out of spite.

 

As they loaded into the helicopter with what was left of Edd's cherished beings, he stayed where he was.  
As they lifted from the ground in a flurry of dust and noise, he stayed where he was.  
As they disappeared into the horizon, he stayed where he was.

 

As the sun set and his legs were starting to hurt from standing up for so long, he walked away. He walked for about an hour or two until he reached his old house. He passed by objects he didn't own anymore. He passed by hanging pictures of people that weren't by him anymore. He grabbed his black coat and shrugged it on. Nights tended to be cold. He rifled through his drawer and pulled out a crushed can with a flimsy metal chain running through it and wore it like a necklace.

 

He looked in the mirror, not recognising who was staring back at him.

 

Then, Edd lost himself.

 

**Author's Note:**

> this was weird to write because I wanted it to be plot-heavy but at the same time kind of stay true to the Eddsworld Humour™ we're all fond of 'cause I don't want to limit my (or anyone else's) answers in the future. Regardless, here it is.


End file.
